St. Catharines rockers Step Echo, alt-country group Phantom 309 of Niagara Falls, and St. Catharines hip hop/funk ensemble Theatre Crisp led the way with multiple nominations for the Sept. 30 show in Niagara Falls.

The nods were announced at Boston Pizza in Welland Tuesday night.

“It feels amazing and I am grateful,” says longtime Niagara Falls country singer Barby Collins, who collected three nominations including Songwriter of the Year.

“We had a lot of (entries),” says co-organizer Erin Visentin, who adds some categories were too good to limit to five nominees. New Group of the Year has eight nominees, while Original Song of the Year has 13.

“It’s a little more exciting,” she says. “We didn’t have a limit this year.”

Even so, categories for blues, jazz and country artist of the year didn’t receive enough submissions and were canceled.

The event has faced some criticism over charging artists a fee to enter. “Most of us don’t see the value in an awards show that asks to pay to be nominated for awards,” wrote Phil Taylor of local band Xprime on the Niagara Music Awards’ Facebook page Wednesday.

But Visentin says until sponsorships can cover the entire cost of the show, entry fees are necessary. She hopes to eliminate them by next year.

“I wanted to do it this year, but we just couldn’t,” she says. “We’re learning from this year and moving on to next year already.”

This year’s show will once again be on Queen Street in Niagara Falls, but moves from the Seneca Queen Theatre to Taps Brewhouse & Grill, where it will be outdoors.